Tuesday’s Picks

Here’s our expert picks for Tuesday, Oct 6th, 2009:

Ottawa 2 – Toronto 3
Toskala plays just strong enough to win, and the Sens struggle to find offense

Dallas 1 – Edmonton 3
Marty Turco stands on his head, but the Stars can’t get more than one past the Bulin Wall

Washington 5 – Philadelphia 2
Chris Pronger and Ray Emery aren’t enough to stop the powerful Capitals attack.

October 5, 2009

Week 1 Notes

A new NHL season is among us, and with that a new NHL fantasy hockey website is needed. Join us each week as we share our player specific insights, tips for dominating your fantasy league, expert picks, general hockey musings, and hatred for whoever is playing against the Wings and Islanders.

John Tavares had many people wondering just how much offense he could produce on the lackluster islanders, but after watching him play it’s certain that he’s going to be a beast on the powerplay this year.  Tavares is a must-start in any league that values PPP.  He may struggle at first, so trade for him now while his value is low.

Vesa Toskala had a rough start – posting an abysmal .800 save percentage through the first couple of games. Now may be a good time to pick up Gustavsson just in case, or think about abandoning the Leafs goalies for now.

Brooks Laich was only drafted in about 20% of leagues, but that number is sure to skyrocket after his 5 point week.  Laich plays alongside the talented Semin and gets his fair share of powerplay chances.  With opponents putting their best D out against the Ovechkin line, Laich should be in store for a breakout season.

John-Michael Liles.  Normally I wouldn’t even draft an Avalanche player – let alone a former Spartan who was -19 last year – but Liles seems to have stepped up his play this year and could emerge as a top offensive defenseman.  Somebody on the Avs has to score goals, and it’s certainly not the bunch of scrubs they currently have playing forward.

Michael Del Zotto, the Rangers first round pick, scored his first goal, but I wouldn’t pick up a Rangers defenseman in a New York teams only league.

Jordan Staal opened the season on the 3rd line for the Pens and is quickly being dropped in a lot of leagues.   Pit is deep at center this year, and that doesn’t look good for Staal.  Look for them to deal somebody at the trade deadline to try and boost up their defense.  At this point I’d only own Staal if you also had Crosby and Nash and wanted to name your team “Crosby, Staals, and Nash” without having to give up anybody good to acquire Eric Staal.  Of course, you could also go with Marc Staal, in which case I refer you to the above “Del Zotto” paragraph.

Wojtek Wolski may sound like something something from an Elmer Fudd cartoon, but the 3rd year player is off to a hot start for Colorado.   He’s put up 3 goals in 2 games while playing on the top line (which puts him on pace for 117 if he can keep it up,) but don’t expect it to last all season.  This is a guy who hasn’t reached the 20 goal plateau yet in his career.  Trade him now while he’s got value and then try to stay away from drafting Avs or Blues.

October 5, 2009

Tavares First Goal

Every week we’ll feature what we thing is a great goal in the “great goals” category. This week’s goal isn’t that pretty, but it is pretty monumental. It’s the first goal for the first round pick, John Tavares. Hopefully (for the lackluster Ilsanders) it’s also the first of many to come.

October 4, 2009